South Carolina Supreme Court approves firing squad, other execution methods for death penalty

The South Carolina Supreme Court granted approval for the state Wednesday to conduct executions by firing squad and electrocution.

The state passed a law in 2021 allowing the use of firing squads and electrocution as execution methods, according to The Hill. However, the approval was temporarily halted due to death row inmates suing the state, despite death by electrocution becoming a default method when the state could not provide lethal injection drugs.

“[The 2021 law was a] sincere effort to make the death penalty less inhumane while enabling the state to carry out its laws,” Justice John Few wrote within the decision. “The inescapable reality that an execution by any method may not go as planned — that it will be ‘botched’ — does not render the method ‘cruel’ under the constitution.”

South Carolina has now become one of five states to allow a firing squad to perform an execution, with only three uses of the method, all in Utah, having taken place since 1976, according to The Death Penalty Information Center.

Following the ruling, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster applauded the decision by the state’s supreme court, stating they “rightfully upheld the rule of law,” according to The Hill.

“The Supreme Court has rightfully upheld the rule of law,” McMaster said. “This decision is another step in ensuring that lawful sentences can be duly enforced and the families and loved ones of the victims receive the closure and justice they have long awaited.”

Since 2011 the state has not conducted an execution, however, there are currently 32 death row inmates in South Carolina, The Hill reported.

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